An Authentic account of Morgan's Great raid through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.
Capt. Eli. Marks, of
Col. Basil W. Duke's Kentucky regiment; who was with
Morgan in his great raid, has arrived in
Lynchburg and furnished the
Republican of that city with an account of the movements of the raid.
It appears that the expedition started from
Sparta Tenn., about the 1st of July, and crossed the
Cumberland river on the 2nd, with about
twenty-five hundred men. We extract the following from the account:
‘
On the 4th of July the expedition took up the line of march for
Green river bridge.
An attack was here made upon the enemy, who were found to be posted in a strong position, protected by well constructed stockades.
On account of the superior strength of the works our forces failed to carry the position.
During this engagement we lost
Col. Chensult and
Capt. Tribble killed, and about 60 men killed and wounded.
The enemy's loss was equal to ours in the charge that was made upon them.
’
From
Green river bridge
Morgan next directed his attention to the town of
Lebanon.
He encamped within five miles of the place on the night of the 4th.
The following morning he reached
Lebanon, and at once demanded the surrender of the place, which was refused by the
Federal officer in command of the post.
A heavy engagement ensued, which lasted, with considerable spirit, for some hours, the
Yankees stubbornly resisting, firing from the houses.
Finally a charge was ordered, and the town was captured, together with the whole Federal force, consisting of about six hundred effective men, together with a large amount of stores, arms, &c. In the charge, however, it is to be regretted that we lost some good-men.
Among the number was
1st Lieut. Thos. Morgan, a brother of the
General, who was shot through the heart.
Leaving
Lebanon they proceeded to
Bardstown.
There a company of the enemy's cavalry was captured.
From house the expedition advanced upon the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and upon reaching the road they were not long in overhauling a train of cars, which proved to be quite worth the effort, as it contained between seventy-five and one hundred officers belonging to
Rosecrans's command.
They next reached Garnettsville, when a feint was made upon the city of
Louisville, whilst preparations were on foot to effect a crossing of the
Ohio river.
A scouting party was sent to the river at
Brandenburg, at which point two steamers were captured, the
Alice Dean and the
J. T. McCombs.
The former was destroyed.
Here the command effected crossing of the river, after a severe fight with the enemy.
They captured about one hundred.
House Guards, one rifled twelve pounder place, and successfully repulsed two gunboats.
This occurred on the 7th.
On the 8th of July, being safely landed on the soil of
Indiana,
Gen. Morgan took up his line of March for the town of
Corydon, where he captured about 600 militia and some few regular soldiers.
Salem, and., was the next point which invited his attention, where an immense amount of damage was inflicted upon the enemy by the destruction of railroad property, bridges, depots, stores, &c.
The expedition from this point visited the interior of the
State, and was enabled to find any quantity of work to perform, which embraced the destruction of vast amounts of public property, such as railroads, bridges, depots, and Government stores generally.
The damage of this character, at this stage of the expedition, is beyond computation.
Leaving the
State of Indiana,
General Morgan struck the
Ohio line at a place called
Harrison.
Here he completely destroyed a very long bridge of great strength and value.
A feint was here made upon
Cincinnati.
The whole
Ohio country, in this direction, is chequered over with railroads, and the attention of the expedition was particularly directed to these.
Immense damage was thus inflicted upon the enemy.
The Mississippi and Ohio railroad was greatly injured.
The command approached within eight miles of the city of
Cincinnati, and it is said that some of
Morgan's scouts were within the suburbs of the city.
On the march the command bore to the left of the city, striking the little Miami railroad, capturing a valuable train of cars soon after reaching the road, together with about 200 Federal soldiers.
The train was, of course, destroyed, which was the usual disposition made of such captures.
Our informant states that
Elsworth,
Morgan's telegraph operator, was with the expedition, and that whenever they wished to destroy a train all they had to do was to tap the wires, and the train was soon sent to them.
After passing
Cincinnati,
Morgan next went in the direction of Camp Denisen, upon which point he made another feint for the purpose of deceiving the enemy, who were at this time harassing him as he proceeded.
Leaving the neighborhood of Camp Denisen he proceeded through the interior of the
State, operating upon an extensive scale, in destroying the railroads for which that section is so prolific.
Upon arriving near the town of
Pomeroy another feint was here resorted to. The numerous roads in this section were generally very effectively blockaded, and much difficulty was experienced in overcoming these obstacles.
Near
Pomeroy Gen. Morgan encountered a force of the enemy of about 10,000 men, consisting of infantry, cavalry, and artillery.
Whilst the skirmishers were engaged at this point the main body of the command moved around the town to the left, with the view of reaching the river, which they accomplished about daylight on the morning of the 18th of July, at
Buffington Island.
Here the enemy came up with them, with a strong force, assisted by gunboats in the river, which prevented a crossing at this point.
The rear guard of the expedition held the enemy in check, whilst the main body was enabled to move off from the river to a point further up, called
Belleville.
Here another effort was made to cross.
About 200 of the command had succeeded in crossing the river when the gunboats again made their appearance, and also a force of cavalry and infantry, evidently the same which opposed them at
Buffington.
Only two men were drowned of the number which attempted to cross the river.
Morgan being thus prevented from crossing his whole command, those who effected a crossing succeeded in keeping the gunboats at bay until he could remove his force to a point higher up the river.
The party thus cut off from the main body, had no other alternative left them but to make their way, as best they could, to the
Confederate lines, which they succeeded in doing — passing through the mountains of
Western Virginia to
Lewisburg, near which place they are now in camp.
Our informant, who is evidently an intelligent and reliable gentleman, assures us that
Morgan's losses, during the entire expedition, was comparatively small; that the damage inflicted upon the enemy is incalculable, and he does not entertain a doubt of his ability to escape in safety, although his men and horses were much broken down, his men having been in the saddle for nearly thirty days with very little rest or sleep.
